April 19 is a very memorable day for Oklahoma residents, most especially back in April 19, 1995. And when I say “memorable”, its memorable in a saddening way.
April 19, 1995 is the date of one of the most destructive act of terrorism until the the September 11, 2001 twin towers attack. A truck full of explosives was blown up in front of the Alfred Murrah Federal building. It caused the death of 168 lives, and more than 680 people injured.
The attack was done by Timothy McVeigh with his co-conspirator Terry Nichols. Timothy McVeigh was the one that detonated the explosive-full truck. Nichols assisted in the bomb preparation.
The wrongdoers of this attack were motivated by hatred of the federal government handling of the Waco and Ruby siege incident in 1993 and 1992 respectively.
Today, a memorial stands in Oklahoma city remembering this sad incident – The Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Every year, there is a marathon held that allows runners to sponsor a victim of the bombing. There is also the tradition 168 seconds of silence – one second for each person who was killed as a result of the blast. It also includes the reading of the names of the victims by children to symbolize the future of Oklahoma city.
Take a look at a video footage of the Oklahoma city Bombing below.
